'Texas Before the Alamo' set for Crossroads premiere

After years of production, the curtain will rise Sunday in Victoria on filmmaker Bill Millet's "Texas Before the Alamo."

The Crossroads premiere will be at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Victoria Fine Arts Center to highlight the next University of Houston-Victoria Provost's Lecture Series.

Several scenes of the two-hour film were photographed in the Crossroads, including St. Mary's Catholic Church in Victoria, Goliad and a ranch land near Garcitas Creek, an area where the La Presidio La Bahia Del Espiritu Santo mission was originally located.

Millet said that although the film, which is in Spanish with English subtitles, has been screened in several cities already across the nation, Victoria is one of the most important sites for a viewing.

"Victoria really has a lot to be proud of with its Latino and Spanish heritage," Millet said.

Admission to the film is free, and a panel discussion at 5 p.m. by historians who helped with the history of the film will preface the premiere, Millet said.

The film tells the story of the founding of Texas and the Spanish who established trails, presidios and missions - a history often not highlighted enough - Millet said.

To partner with the University of Houston-Victoria shows a city and school moving toward diversifying and educating its community, he added.

"I take my hat off to UHV," he said. "They are showing the diversity and true history of Victoria."

Millet said the film is expected to premiere on PBS in 2014 as a six-hour, three-part miniseries.